Yesterday I did something that really scared me. No, I didn't go near a spider- I don't ever do that. Nope, I didn't eat veggies- I try and always do that. What did I do? I introduced something that I had never done before in front of my students: I introduced a new website tool and purposely fell flat on my face. Did they have any idea I failed on purpose? Nope, they had no idea.
Why did I do this? To show them that it is okay to fail..and miserably at that. I told the students that I was not sure what I was doing and that I needed help to figure it out. While I did actually need a little bit of help to figure it out, I was nowhere near as "helpless" as I seemed to be. Soon the classes were feeling like they were in control and they rocketed off into the task at hand. It was an unbelievably productive 42 minute period.
Why? Because students had ownership. They had a horse in the race. It wasn't just me telling them information and making them take notes in their notebook. Especially with the 1:1 environment that we have, students need to feel ownership. They need to feel as though they are in charge- even when they really aren't.
Think about what they are in control of in their life? Really, it is not a whole lot. Why not make their education something that they feel they have a stake in? We were able to accomplish the exact same thing as if I had just "lectured" to them the whole period, but they were accountable and felt ownership. However, I do have to say that it is kind of scary to give away "control" of the class over to the students, but the results are undeniable.
I used to think that students needed to be sitting in neat rows, quiet, shirts perfectly tucked in...etc. However, I realized that is not the world that we live in. Think about all the things that these students are surrounded with in the world. They are used to multitasking and information overload. They want to be in control of the joystick of their learning- just like when they are playing Call Of Duty. Does there need to still be control by the teacher? Absolutely, but I have found that my students can express themselves better and learn more when they are actively engaged in a task. Part of this comes from the fact that I have a fairly laid back demeanor, but another part comes from what I have realized just watching my students this year. Why am I in teaching? To impact students and help shape them...so why would I not want to give them the opportunity to actively control their own future?
I still give the boring noun, verb, adjective, "blah, blah, blah" English lectures and papers...but I am trying to allow students to take control of their education. If I have to "fail" in order for this to happen, so be it.
Way to go, Colin! We all have to accept the "blah, blah, blahs" of life and sometimes those blahs are important. For example, in my life, I consider doing the laundry a big blah. But I do it because once the blahs are taking care of, I can have do what I really like to do - explore and learn. So glad your students have the opportunity to be "in control of the joystick of leaning." Love it.
ReplyDelete